No. 8 Flames entertain No. 7 Saints in fourth straight home series

Flames forward Tucker Shields vs. Marymount

Sophomore forward Tucker Shields guards Maryville's leading scorer Maxwell Wagener during last season's meeting at the LaHaye Ice Center. (Photos by Simon Barbre)

No. 8 Flames entertain No. 7 Saints in fourth straight home series

2/4/2026 3:56:00 PM | Men's D1 Hockey

Liberty will look to expand its 5-4 lead on Maryville in the all-time series and to jockey for positioning in the ACHA DI national championships near St. Louis.

After splitting last weekend's series with Adrian (Mich.) College, Liberty University's ACHA Division I men's hockey team moved up one spot to No. 8 in this week's national rankings. Meanwhile, Maryville (Mo.) University, the Flames' opponent this weekend, dropped one position to No. 7, making their series potentially pivotal for seeding in the March 12-17 National Championships near St. Louis.

"They're ahead of us right now so it would be nice to be able to sweep them," Liberty senior forward and head captain Sam Feamster said. "After that win on Saturday, it brought us together pretty well, so we have some good momentum right now. Confidence is at a good level, so we're in a good spot to go into our final run in the regular season here."

For the Flames, this is their fourth consecutive home series, dating back to their last trip to Maryville the weekend before Thanksgiving. They will conclude their regular season with a home series against No. 2 Ohio University after traveling to play the Bobcats next weekend in Athens, Ohio.

"It's always nice to play at home," Feamster said. "We've got the energy, we've got the crowd on our side, we're comfortable. Guys can be in their normal pre-game routine, so that helps."

The Flames and Saints are two of the five independent programs ranked in the top eight. Feamster believes if Liberty can replicate its approach that it took in the second game against the Bulldogs, a 5-0 victory that ended a five-game losing skid, it will find similar success against the Saints.

"Adrian was a game where we played exactly how we wanted to play all year, so it's nice to see the results pay off," he said. "If we play that way this weekend against Maryville, we're going to have a lot of fun, and we should come out with two Ws. (But we're taking it) one game at a time. We're just focused on the first shift for Friday night right now."

Scouting Preview, Games 26-27: at No. 7 Maryville (Mo.) University (11-8-1) at No. 8 Liberty (16-8-1), Friday at 7 p.m., Saturday at 4 p.m. in the LaHaye Ice Center.

All-time series: The Flames hold a 5-4 advantage on the Saints, starting with a 9-0 rout in the 2021 ACHA DI National Championships opener played at the Maryville University Ice Hockey Center.

Sam Feamster Nick Pomerleau behind Saints cage — Flames senior forward and head captain Sam Feamster and junior defenseman and alternate captain Nick Pomerleau spar with the Saints.

Liberty Scouting Report: Liberty features extremely balanced offensive production at the top of its leaderboard, led by senior forwards Michael DeBrito (8 goals, 2 game-winning goals, 18 assists) and Ryan Finch (15G, 2GWG, 9A), junior forward Luke Munroe (11G, 2GWG, 13A), junior defenseman Nick Pomerleau (3G, 19A), and sophomore forward Kal Essenmacher (10G, 3GWG, 7A).

Liberty has capitalized on 20 of its 81 power-play opportunities (24.7 percent), while its penalty kill has been successful 55 out of 73 times (75.3 percent), converting two shorthanded scores.

"Our power play is going to be huge, and our coaches just told us (Tuesday) that Maryville scores (38.5) percent (25 out of 65) of all of its goals on the power play, so if our penalty kill is good this weekend, there's a good chance we win," Feamster said. "Stay out of the box, that's the message right there. They always play pretty physical … so we've just got to … play clean hockey, play fast, and our speed will take over against a team like that."

Between the pipes, junior goalie Konrad Kausch (9-4-1, 3.07 goals-against average, 89.2 save percentage, 2 shutouts) has swapped starts with senior Nick Bernstein (6-4, 2.58 GAA, 91.4 SP).

Maryville Scouting Report: Last March, the Saints won their first two games at the ACHA DI National Championships before being eliminated in the quarterfinal round by eventual national champion UNLV — which proceeded to oust the Flames in the Final Four — 3-2 in overtime.

After starting this season at 5-0 with a win over McKendree (Ill.) and sweeps of Midland and Illinois State, Maryville lost eight straight games by dropping four games against Ohio and two against Minot State and NCAA Division I Long Island University, which Liberty split a home series against in 2021. The Saints ended that skid by snuffing the Flames in the first game of the Maryville Showcase, 3-1, before going on to defeat Arizona and Calvin to sweep the tournament.

The Saints were idle last weekend after dropping two tight contests against Minot State — which remained the No. 1 team in the nation for the fourth straight week — by 2-0 and 3-2 scores on their home ice.

Maryville excels on special teams, with its power-play unit capitalizing on 32.1 percent of its chances (25 of 78) and its penalty kill successful 82.9 percent of the time (58 out of 70).

The Saints' offense is fueled by forwards Maxwell Wagener (6G, 13A), Sam Edwards (7G, 8A), Ethan Chesney (5G, 8A), and Will Smith (4G, 9A) and defensemen Brett Ursukak (4G, 9A) and Sidney McNeill (6G, 5A), who both have netted two game winners.

In goal, Maryville has platooned Lucas Bain (6-3-1, 1.59 GAA, 93.1 SP, 1 SO) and Parker Sawka (5-5, 2.90 GAA, 88.8 SP, 1 SO).

Coaches: Handy is in his 26th season as head coach for the Flames, sporting a career record of 577-237-38. He guided Liberty to its ninth consecutive nationals appearance last spring when the team made its third trip to the Final Four in the past five seasons. John Hogan is Maryville's founding head coach after starting the program at the DII level in 2018-19 and moving up to DI for the past five seasons. He has posted a combined 138-95-15 mark.

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer